carpe diem

I turned 26 today. It was a chilly, snow-covered Boston that I woke up to this morning - to be expected at the beginning of the calendar year. I took the T (a longer commute than the bus) all the way into lab today, just so I could catch a look at my favorite view of the city. The skyline from the Longfellow bridge is always beautiful, regardless of the weather. It's one of the things about this city I'll look forward to seeing when I return.

In less than a month, the landscape to which I will wake up will be quite different. After months of debating, questioning, reflecting, introspecting, discussing, waffling, pondering, and a whole host of other action verbs, I've decided to leave my Harvard Ph.D. program for one year to move to the west coast - San Francisco, in particular. The move is temporary, but it's something that a lot of soul-searching has convinced me that I need to do. And I need to do it now.

This blog will serve not only as a way for those interested parties to keep track of the who/what/when/where/why/how in my life, but also to keep me constantly reminded of what this year is to be for me - an adventure. For better, for worse, for richer, or for (almost certainly) poorer, this is my perhaps overly-romanticized opportunity to figure out what it is I'm looking for. And to laugh, cry, love, learn, kick ass and take names while I'm doing it - and remember that I am always making up the future as I go.

I turned 26 today. Here's to my 27th adventure!